Apple is now embroiled in yet another court battle over alleged patent infringement, this time with a company called Voip-Pal. Voip-Pal.com officially
announced today that it is bringing official charges against Apple for upwards of $2.8 billion in damages over alleged infringement of its patented internet communications technologies. The company says it came to the total through a 1.25 percent royalty rate based on an appointment of Apple’s estimated historical profit from its varying products. Specifically, Voip-Pal says it calculated total of 55 percent for the iPhone, 35 percent for the iPad, and 10 percent for the Mac.
“We are confident the current good will on both sides will result in a favorable outcome for all parties involved,†said VoIP-Pal CEO Emil Malak in a prepared statement.
The Cupertino firm’s iMessage and FaceTime services allegedly use VoIP-Pal’s patented technology without authorization. VoIP-Pal has filed similar lawsuits against carriers AT&T and Verizon in Las Vegas court.
VoIP-Pal remains open to an amicable solution
According to court documents, Apple employs VoIP-Pal’s patented technology in FaceTime and iMessage and has “widely distributed infringing productsâ€.
“Instead of pursuing independent product development, Apple employed VoIP-Pal’s innovative caller attribute classification and routing product design, in violation of VoIP-Pal’s valuable intellectual property rights,†as per court papers.
Apple’s messaging system contains a feature that automatically falls back to SMS when iMessage is unavailable. That feature is the subject of VoIP-Pal’s bold patent infringement claim.
Apple directly and indirectly practices certain claims of VoIP-Pal’s ‘815 patent “in order to determine the classification of a user, and, subsequently, how the call should be routed,†according to court documents.
Voip-Pal says it’s not a “patent troll,†despite the fact it’s a company that currently does not generate any income, and yet still calls itself a “technical leader in the broadband VoIP market.†It is also worth noting that Voip-Pal has levied similar patent infringement charges against AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the same U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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